Portugal makes another early IMF repayment, 80 percent now paid

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal has made another early repayment of its bailout loan to the International Monetary Fund, bringing the total paid this year to 10 billion euros, the finance ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement late on Monday that the country has now paid off about 80 percent of the 26.3 billion euros it owes the IMF, as part of the bailout it received from the Washington-based lender and the European Union in 2011-14.

The last payment, of 1 billion euros, was due in May 2021.

Portugal has opted to repay the IMF portion of the bailout early and instead finance itself in debt markets, where it can now issue bonds at lower interest rates than the loan.